Besieged Read Online Free PDF

to sleep in the stables.
    “Master don’t allow the likes of ye in the house,” the cook said grimly. “We’d all be murdered in our beds!”
    “I doubt there is any man who would even get close to that woman’s bed,” Adali said humorously as he and Rory found a spot for themselves in the stable loft. He spread his cloak upon the sweet-smelling hay and sat down. “I’ve slept in worse places,” he decided.
    “I, also,” Rory agreed, laying his own garment upon the hay. He stretched out, and then said, “She looks happy.”
    “She is,” Adali said.
    “Good.”
    “You have never married, Master Maguire?” Adali asked.
    “Nay,” came the answer. “There was no point to it. The lands were no longer mine. I had naught to offer a woman. Children would have but complicated my life for they would be Catholics by faith, Irish by blood, and alien in their own land as long as the English occupy it. I cannot be certain of the future myself. I should not want the responsibility of a wife and children to worry over.”
    “You have no need of a woman?” Adali probed.
    “After her?” was the reply.
    “It was but one hour of one night almost twenty-one years ago, Master Maguire. Are you telling me there has been no other since?”
    “Aye. Oh, once in a rare while I have a bout of lust which is satisfied by a village widow of my acquaintance. She is known for being kind to men like me, but as she is discreet, there is none who would call her a whore,” Rory said.
    “Can you be as discreet as your widow, Master Maguire?” Adali asked him in all seriousness.
    “Of course!” Rory exclaimed. “Have I not always been? I know she knows nothing of what happened. I would not distress her.”
    “Good. She thinks of you as her friend, Master Maguire,” Adali told him. “I believe you would not want to lose that friendship. She loves James Leslie, and he loves her. They have built a good life together in Scotland with their children.”
    “You need not fear, Adali,” Rory Maguire said, and there was a dark hint of sadness in his voice. “She never saw me as anything other than a friend. It is the best I can hope for. I will not lose even that small part of her attention on a foolish hope and dream that will never, ever be. Nay, Adali. I would give my life for my lady Jasmine, but she shall never know the part I played in saving her own life all those years ago. It would shame us both.”
    “Nay, there was no shame, Master Maguire,” Adali reassured him. “You, the priest, and I did what had to be done. No more than that. There is no disgrace in it, nor should you feel guilt. Good night now. I will see you in the morning.”
    “Good night, Adali,” Rory Maguire said quietly, rolling himself onto his side, wrapping his cloak about him. Then he thought that the next few months would be the hardest of his life.

Chapter 2
    T hey departed the Appleton estate even before the sun was up. Their hosts were still abed, but they were anxious to remain not a moment longer than was necessary.
    “Please tell your master,” the duke of Glenkirk instructed the butler, who himself was but barely awake, “that we thank him for his hospitality, but our journey is a long, tedious one. If we are to reach its end by sunset today, we must depart earlier than would be expected.”
    The butler bowed low, as obsequious as his employer. “Very good, my lord. Sir John will be sorry he had not the opportunity to bid you a proper farewell himself,” he replied smoothly.
    “He is excused,” James Leslie said grandly with a wave of his gloved hand. Turning, he shepherded his wife and stepdaughter from the entrance hall out into the damp and foggy morning.
    The coach carrying Adali, Rohana, and their small bit of luggage had already departed. Rory Maguire stood waiting, holding the horses. They mounted quickly and cantered down the gravel drive away from Appleton Hall.
    “Good riddance!” James Leslie said.
    “Aye, and amen to that,